For the prevention and/or treatment of allergies in subgroups of infants with high risk for allergies, different routes have been explored such as the use of probiotics or the use of oligosaccharides, and especially human milk oligosaccharides. Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are, collectively, the third largest solid constituents in human milk, after lactose and fat. HMOs usually consist of lactose at the reducing end with a carbohydrate core that often contains a fucose or a sialic acid at the non-reducing end. There are approximately one hundred milk oligosaccharides that have been isolated and characterized in human milk, however this represents only a very small portion of the total number remaining to be characterized. Mother's milk is recommended for all infants. However, in some cases breast feeding is inadequate or unsuccessful for medical reasons or the mother chooses not to breast feed. Infant formulae have been developed for these situations. Fortifiers have also been developed to enrich mother's milk or infant formula with specific ingredients.
Several compositions have therefore been developed using HMO ingredients, such as fucosylated oligosaccharides, lacto-N-tetraose, lacto-N-neotetraose, or sialylated oligosaccharides, and for different purposes.
For example WO2005055944 from Children's hospital medical center describes a pharmaceutical composition comprising a molecule comprising a fucose group in an alpha-2 linkage, an alpha-3 linkage or an alpha-4 linkage to a galactose group and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. Various molecules are described such as 2′-fucosyllactose. This application is quite general since several infections can be prevented or treated, including respiratory or enteric infections, and there is a large target of patients (infants, children or adults).
Further documents specifically focus on various associations of HMOs with either a probiotic strain or with other specific components.
For example WO2009/077352 from Nestec SA relates to a composition suitable in the prevention of opportunistic infections comprising a particular synergetic association of a probiotic Bifidobacterium with a fucosylated oligosaccharide. Respiratory tracts infections are cited amongst the opportunistic infections that may be prevented. This invention especially targets immune-compromised individuals such as preterm and neonatal infants, older children or even adults with an immune system which is not fully effective as a result of an existing condition or illness (e.g. HIV) or as a result of therapy for an existing condition e.g. Crohn's disease or rheumatoid arthritis or chemo-therapy for the treatment of cancer).
WO2009/112361 from Nestec SA relates to another composition suitable in the prevention of opportunistic infections comprising a particular synergetic association of a N-acetyl-lactosamine and/or an oligosaccharide containing N-acetyl-lactosamine with a probiotic Lactobacillus sp. Several conditions are cited such as pathogenic infections of the upper respiratory tract.
WO2012/092154 from Abbott refers to methods of using HMOs for improving airway respiratory health of infants, toddlers and children. However a wide list of HMOs is indicated in this application as well as several combinations of different HMOs. It is claimed that the composition seems to be efficient when HMOs are present with carotenoid.
WO2012076321 from Nestec SA discloses specific oligosaccharides for treating skin disease in general populations.
WO2011/136648 from Nutricia is focused on the use of a composition comprising HMOs such as 2-fucosylated oligosaccharides for the preparation of a nutritional composition for feeding an infant, said infant having Lewis blood type Le(a−/b+) or Le(a−/b−) and/or Lewis blood type Le(x−/y+) or Le(x−/y−). However this application does not refer to the prevention and/or treatment of allergies.
None of the previous work is therefore focused on the health benefits related to allergy in high risk subjects. These high risk subjects represent a sub-group of subjects of a higher concern and who require a higher care than the other infants since they will be more prone to get such diseases and the associated complications.
There is therefore a need for these infants or young child at risk to develop an efficient specific composition that will allow preventing, reducing and/or treating allergies.
There is a need to deliver specific means of delivering such anti-allergy health benefit, more specifically in high risk subjects. There is s further need to deliver such health benefit in a manner that is particularly suitable for young subjects such as infants or young children, in a manner that does not involve a classical pharmaceutical intervention as these infants or young child are particularly fragile. There is a need to deliver such health benefits in at risk subjects in a manner that does not induce side effects and/or in a manner that is easy to deliver, and well accepted by the parents or health care practitioners.
There is a need to deliver such benefits in a manner that does keep the cost of such delivery reasonable and affordable by most.
Overall there is a need to deliver the most appropriate positive health effects to the specific sub-populations in needs, without unnecessarily targeting broad and large populations.